Small Group Punta Arenas Shore Excursion: Fort Bulnes and City Tour

Excellent tour. Our guide was very enthusiastic, good English. We like the small group. Good time planning.

Very poorly run tour. Tour guide was not very informative Did not go to all called out stops. Meal location was not very good and was not clean. Request a Refund

tour guide was not very knowledgeable of area. tour was very rushed only 20 minutes to visit museum and even less at some locations. Lunch was disappointing. Had to pay own admission at chargeable locations. Was told we had to have local currency at Fort so stopped at money exchange, Fort actually took credit cards.

"Tour" was a disaster. Guide provided virtually no historical, cultural, architectural information. Seemed like she was just winging it. It was so bad we bailed and found our own way back to the ship. We have booked many tours through Viator and this is the first time I feel we should get a full refund or at least an equal amount of credit toward a future tour.

Where to begin? As we got off the ship, we looked for the usual sign indicating our tour leader. NO SIGN. Asked around and it took a guide from a different company to point out our guide- CARMEN-who was busy talking to a friend, holding the sign down at her side where it was not visible. The van was too small for the number of people on the out. I had to sit with my legs either on top of the wheel cover or out in the aisle. Finally we were offered seats next to the driver. Carmen was both hard to understand and did not understand us well in spite of insisting that she did. The first thing that happened was that the visit to Fort Bulnes was canceled because the “guide” couldn’t tell us what we would see that would make it worth the time and extra expense. The next stop was the cemetery which we also skipped due to problems with the credit card machine and only credit cards were accepted- no cash! The first actual stop was the square at the city center where we were taken from one hotel to another in search of a bathroom! The “guide” was silent during our drive from place to place. She told us NOT ONE THING either before or after each stop. She did not escort us around the various museums and did not explain anything about them. She never once told us when to be back on the bus causing some of us to wait a long time while others finished their visit. WE actually had to ask how long we had to tour a site. After empanadas, WE had to tell HER that it was time to leave. The driver who only spoke Spanish, tried to point out all the sites as we were passing them on the road. We spoke a little Spanish and had to translate what he was saying for the rest of the group. With an ACTUAL GUIDE, this could have been an excellent tour but there is no way of knowing who you will get. A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!

The itinerary was fine however the execution was not. The tourist were all English speaking. The young guide had poor control of English and spent most of the tour conversing with the driver in Spanish. She also did not exhibit knowledge expected from a guide. There was not a single background information provided, not a word of explanation on the 55 KM drive to the main attraction (Port Bulnes) or on the way back. The guide also lacked knowledge regarding the payment for entrances and we wasted time at a currency exchange.So the combination of lack of language and lack of knowledge made this tour valueless. The driver also seem to lack tour experience - hitting the curb numerous times and not staying with the car while we were off. The city portion of the tour (buildings, statues and cemetery) was also not accompanied by explanations - thus only boards in Spanish at places were available. The statue shown on Viator brochure was not visited at all. The entrance cost to the Port Bulnes museum is high and not justified - We understand this is not under Viator's control. The lunch (included) consisted of a small empenanda per person - nice but not really a lunch.

A well-versed guide and a great driver. Went to Fort Bensey and took also a city tour. The details were explained clearly.

Our guide, Alexandra and our driver,Roberto went out of their way to ensure that our small group of six had a great experience. It was a full day and we had a wonderful time

There was supposed to be 4 of us on the tour but one couple didn’t show up so we ended up having a private tour. Our guide was excellent! Very knowledgeable about the area, history, flora & fauna, etc. He spoke very good English. We were lucky enough to have a calm day and see plenty of dolphins. Overall, I would highly recommend this tour.

The tour content was fantastic. We had issues when we were first onshore with miscommunication regarding payment of the tour. Once this was solved we headed off to fort bulnes on the recommendation of our guide. Fortunately we missed large tour groups which was an advantage. Lunch was wonderful as well as our city tour. We were not rushed and our guide was always considerate. Our only negative was that our guide's English was difficult to understand and we missed a lot of the information. Great day!!